The where were you when thread

PJ_Soul

I'm watching an O.J. Simpson thing and the white Bronco scene is happening. It made me think a thread about where we were and what we were doing/thinking when crazy events happening could be interesting! OJ? The Tsunami? 9/11? An earthquake? Balloon boy? The Cubs win the world series? Let us know your memory!

Like for me, the very first major news story that I clearly remember is when Mt St Helens erupted. I was living in metro Vancouver, and my dad called me outside because a light fall of ash was coming from the sky. I found it so amazing and scary. My concept about the wider world evolved, and i learned about how natural disasters could actually happen. Then we spent the evening watching the news. I was 5 I think.

Where were you when?

lastexitlondon

I remember 2 events vividly. Well 3 
1. The space shuttle explosion. I was in a pub in England and the TV was showing the live take off. And all of a sudden everything went still and quiet. Surreal thinking those lives just ended live.
2. 9/11.  I was a bricklayer at the time and my boss had not turned up so we just started getting on with the work we could, and mid morning our time he turned up and said come into the customers house and put the TV on. And we saw live the second plane hit, fucking mind blowing. 
3. More recent but vivid, COVID, I was in a children's play area with my the  2 year old and my elder son 21 at the time and on TV the first 2 English people with COVID on a cruise ship were quarantined on that ship and the lady behind the counter said well that's my holiday ruined! 

tempo_n_groove

I've got a few.

Nightstalker in California.  He was killing kids so I was getting scared as he was over in the next valley.  I was sure glad when they caught him.  When he left the court and held up his hand w a pentagram carved in it and said "Hail Satan!" I was still scared...

1994 Northridge Earthquake.  I was in the epicenter almost in Chatsworth.  3 of the freeways I was supposed to take home collapsed.  I didn't make it back for 2 days. Had to stay w family in the valley.

1986 Space shuttle explosion.  The principal came over the loud speaker to say something went wrong.  Our teacher brought in a tv for us to watch.  That was something I never thought I'd see.

9/11 Went to the car dealership to complain about the transmission in the jeep I bought and the tv was on.  They were showing the tower was on fire and someone else said a plane hit it.  I thought that was odd.  Then I watched the second plane crash into the other tower.  I could not believe what I just saw.  I left and went home and started calling my family members in NY to see where they were at.  A few years later I would end up dating a gal whos ex Brotherin law was on the plane over PA that went down.  He was supposedly the person that said "let's Roll"

tempo_n_groove

PJ_Soul said:

I'm watching an O.J. Simpson thing and the white Bronco scene is happening. It made me think a thread about where we were and what we were doing/thinking when crazy events happening could be interesting! OJ? The Tsunami? 9/11? An earthquake? Balloon boy? The Cubs win the world series? Let us know your memory!

Like for me, the very first major news story that I clearly remember is when Mt St Helens erupted. I was living in metro Vancouver, and my dad called me outside because a light fall of ash was coming from the sky. I found it so amazing and scary. My concept about the wider world evolved, and i learned about how natural disasters could actually happen. Then we spent the evening watching the news. I was 5 I think.

Where were you when?

That is wild.  I don't remember the St Helens eruption as I was only 5 but I remember the Olympics in Yugoslavia!

SPEEDY MCCREADY

My wife was in Centennial Park, in Atlanta, the day of the Olympic Bombing.

pjhawks

Night first Gulf War started was at a college basketball game. This was well before cell phones.  Don't remember how word spread just remember people started mentioning it in crowd.  

Night the US captured and killed Bin Laden I was at the Phillies-Mets game in Philly. Sunday night baseball.  Was still early in the cell phone world so word filtered around the stadium little by little.  Was surreal to be in a public place to learn that.  Some cool videos on YouTube about the stadium that night and people finding out and celebrating.

Both Reagan and the Pope getting shot was in grade school, they played the news reports over the loudspeaker.

OJ chase was at a friends house as we had a group all meeting there to go out together that night. As it started we never went out and just sat riveted.

Lady Di dying came back from a bar late at night turned on the tv and saw the reports.

9/11 was at work, but at the time one of my best friends worked in Manhattan at the time and a good friend of mine's sister is married to a NYC fireman a guy I've met a bunch of times even before that.  Frist heard about the first plane from a colleague, then the 2nd plane hit guy in office next to mine was on phone with a company in DC and told them about the 2nd plane.  Remember calling friends wife to make sure my good friend was ok. he wasn't close to the area but still scary.   NYC fireman was not on duty that day but ending up going to do a lot of cleanup and now has health issues because of it.  That was a difficult day all around.  Wil always remember the fog that everyone seemed to be in that day and in the weeks after that.  and of course the empty skies after.  

just a few off the top of my head.

eeriepadave

Ones i remember:

Space shuttle explosion I kinda remember, i was in middle school when that happened.I think our teacher said something to us about it.

OJ Simpson chase. I was working at a store called Clover (Kinda like a Kmart/Target in the philly area). We had the tv 's on in the electronics department and just about everyone was watching it.

9/11, I was working at Kmart and I remember tv's were on but we could only get like one station and the reception sucked. We watched it from there and after the second plane and the events started to unfold we had to put away/lock up our guns/rifles and ammo. After the workday me and a couple friends hung out with another friend who's sister was living in NYC at the time. Luckily she was fine.

pjhawks said:

Night the US captured and killed Bin Laden I was at the Phillies-Mets game in Philly. Sunday night baseball.  Was still early in the cell phone world so word filtered around the stadium little by little.  Was surreal to be in a public place to learn that.  Some cool videos on YouTube about the stadium that night and people finding out and celebrating.

Yeah I remember that. People were in the stands and were chanting USA and of course the players and no idea what was going on.

markymark550

I remember the Berlin Wall falling, but I was really too young to fully grasp the impact of that event. I remember watching the news with my parents that night and they showed one guy with a sledgehammer just going off on that wall. He had the look of determination on his face that he was going to tear the whole damn thing down himself.

I remember the OJ chase. It was the summer before going into middle school. Was too young for a real job and for whatever reason had nothing to do, so I was watching TV. The breaking news alert came on and I couldn't stop watching. I just remember thinking that an innocent person wouldn't be on the run like that.

9/11 I was a freshman in college. I had no idea what was happening when I left my dorm room for my first class that day. My neighbor had his door open and called me in to see the news. This was probably about 5 minutes or so after the first tower was hit. I stood there and watched with him and saw the second tower get hit. I couldn't believe what was happening. Looked at my watch and saw I had about 10 minutes to make it to class, so hurried off. Got to class and professor wasn't there. He wound up being a few minutes late and when he got there told the what had happened and he was canceling his class the rest of the week. Got back to my dorm and watched with the same neighbor as one of the towers fell. That day and the rest of the week was very surreal to say the least.

PureandEasy

Jeez OP, should have asked for just one thing for each member to post. I am an older member and could tell you my memory of the moon landing, the Watergate hearings and Nixon resigning.  Granted when all that happened I was under 10 years old but I remember.  I also remember where I was during Regan assassination attempt; Lennon was killed, the shuttle explosion; OJ; 9/11; Bin Laden; etc. etc. etc.  

Wobbie

Princess Di crash….just got home from the bar.

xavier mcdaniel

PJ_Soul said:

I'm watching an O.J. Simpson thing and the white Bronco scene is happening. It made me think a thread about where we were and what we were doing/thinking when crazy events happening could be interesting! OJ? The Tsunami? 9/11? An earthquake? Balloon boy? The Cubs win the world series? Let us know your memory!

Like for me, the very first major news story that I clearly remember is when Mt St Helens erupted. I was living in metro Vancouver, and my dad called me outside because a light fall of ash was coming from the sky. I found it so amazing and scary. My concept about the wider world evolved, and i learned about how natural disasters could actually happen. Then we spent the evening watching the news. I was 5 I think.

Where were you when?

1 - OJ, watching the NBA finals game between the Rockets and Knicks.
2 - 9/11 at home after just voting in the NYC mayoral primary. I had tickets for the Yankee game that night. I also worked in Jersey City directly across the Hudson River from the World Trade Center but wasn't there because I worked nights/early overnights so I was in the World Trade Center concourse sometime around 2:30 am going from the PATH train to the Subway.

Halifax2TheMax

Wobbie said:

Princess Di crash….just got home from the bar.

And the battle of Hastings. You were there. 1066 I believe?

lastexitlondon

I remember this one time at band camp

tempo_n_groove

lastexitlondon said:

I remember this one time at band camp

What'd u do w that flute Rob, lol!

tempo_n_groove

PureandEasy said:

Jeez OP, should have asked for just one thing for each member to post. I am an older member and could tell you my memory of the moon landing, the Watergate hearings and Nixon resigning.  Granted when all that happened I was under 10 years old but I remember.  I also remember where I was during Regan assassination attempt; Lennon was killed, the shuttle explosion; OJ; 9/11; Bin Laden; etc. etc. etc.  

I thought about this too.  Im 48 and have been around for a lot of things.  I forgot about the Pope and Reagan.  Reagan was a big deal as I remember them replaying the footage over and over again.  I remember them showing a hand of the SS and him moving back and forth thinking he placed something in the others pocket.  I was 6 and knew it was stupid, lol.

goldrush

I think the first ‘event’ I can vividly remember is the Brighton bombing in October 1984, when the IRA tried to kill Margaret Thatcher and other UK MPs. The explosion was in the middle of the night, and when I got up to go to school it was all over the news. I would’ve been almost 8 years old at the time and I’d never seen anything like that on the morning news.

Live Aid concerts, July 1985: I’d been sick for a few days, and my sleep was all over the place. I was on the couch and watched the whole Wembley concert from start to finish. My dad was building something in the garden so he was outside in the sun all day and he got me to record it. Every 4 hours I was switching out VHS tapes so we didn’t miss anything, and labelling them with the band names. I think he still has the tapes somewhere.

The Berlin Wall came down on my 13th birthday. We had a family party at the house that night and all of the adults were talking about it, I just wanted to play my new records!

I was watching TV when the news of Kurt Cobain’s death broke. I remember I’d just finished an episode of Red Dwarf (funny how random things stick in your mind), and switched the news on afterwards and saw it. I remember calling a friend and leaving an answer phone message that Kurt had died. He was heading out on a rugby tour the next day, and there was a guy called Curt on the team so I’d accidentally caused a panic.

9/11:  I was working in HMV at the time, but it was my day off. It was all over the TV all day and I don’t think I moved from my spot all day, just watching in disbelief.

bootlegger10

Wobbie said:

Princess Di crash….just got home from the bar.

I was a selfish kid and was ticked that Saturday Night Live was preempted for the coverage of her crash/death.

9/11 - got back to the dorm and saw it on the news.  

xavier mcdaniel

bootlegger10 said:

Wobbie said:

Princess Di crash….just got home from the bar.

I was a selfish kid and was ticked that Saturday Night Live was preempted for the coverage of her crash/death.

9/11 - got back to the dorm and saw it on the news.  

And SNL would have been was a rerun since it happened on Aug. 31, 1997.

josevolution

I can remember distinctly where I was for couple of major American events!
Moon landing I was 9 years old living in Santiago Chile we had a small black & white tv watching with my mom I remember her ironing clothes! 

RFK assassination in 68 at that time we didn’t have a tv yet but it came on the radio remember my mother crying!
Lennon Murder I was working for Risingtide health food store remember walking home with my coworker and just in disbelief 😔
I also remember getting to work and sitting in my car when magic Johnson announced he had tested positive for HIV and retiring 

xavier mcdaniel

josevolution said:

I can remember distinctly where I was for couple of major American events!
Moon landing I was 9 years old living in Santiago Chile we had a small black & white tv watching with my mom I remember her ironing clothes! 

RFK assassination in 68 at that time we didn’t have a tv yet but it came on the radio remember my mother crying!
Lennon Murder I was working for Risingtide health food store remember walking home with my coworker and just in disbelief 😔
I also remember getting to work and sitting in my car when magic Johnson announced he had tested positive for HIV and retiring 

The challenger is the first major event I have some vague recollection of as I was two days past my seventh birthday and in first grade at the time and remember hearing about it there.

eeriepadave

Another one i remember well was the death of Kurt Cobain. I got done work around 3:30ish and on the way home just about every radio station was playing Nirvana. I was like WTF?? Got home and turned on MTV and Kurt Loder and crew were talking about it :sad:

xavier mcdaniel

eeriepadave said:

Another one i remember well was the death of Kurt Cobain. I got done work around 3:30ish and on the way home just about every radio station was playing Nirvana. I was like WTF?? Got home and turned on MTV and Kurt Loder and crew were talking about it :sad:

eeriepadave said:

Another one i remember well was the death of Kurt Cobain. I got done work around 3:30ish and on the way home just about every radio station was playing Nirvana. I was like WTF?? Got home and turned on MTV and Kurt Loder and crew were talking about it :sad:

I thought that was announced late in the afternoon because I remember getting back from ninth grade on a Friday afternoon and hearing about it.

eeriepadave

xavier mcdaniel said:

eeriepadave said:

Another one i remember well was the death of Kurt Cobain. I got done work around 3:30ish and on the way home just about every radio station was playing Nirvana. I was like WTF?? Got home and turned on MTV and Kurt Loder and crew were talking about it :sad:

eeriepadave said:

Another one i remember well was the death of Kurt Cobain. I got done work around 3:30ish and on the way home just about every radio station was playing Nirvana. I was like WTF?? Got home and turned on MTV and Kurt Loder and crew were talking about it :sad:

I thought that was announced late in the afternoon because I remember getting back from ninth grade on a Friday afternoon and hearing about it.

maybe it was around 4?